MorphoSys Rises on $818 Million Drug Alliance: Frankfurt Mover

June 27 (Bloomberg) -- MorphoSys AG rose to a 12-year high
after announcing an alliance for an experimental cancer
treatment with Celgene Corp. worth as much as 628 million euros
($818 million) plus royalties on sales.

The stock jumped 17 percent to 43.50 euros as of 9:42 a.m.
in Frankfurt, the highest price since February 2001. That gave
the Martinsried, Germany-based company a value of about 1
billion euros. The shares have gained 48 percent this year.

The companies said they will co-develop and co-promote
MorphoSys’s MOR202 drug for diseases including multiple myeloma,
a type of blood cancer. The deal comes with an upfront payment
of 70.8 million euros, and MorphoSys will also receive 46.2
million euros from Summit, New Jersey-based Celgene for new
shares of MorphoSys. The German drugmaker is also entitled to
payments upon meeting development, regulatory and sales goals as
well as a double-digit cut of sales.

“This alliance takes MorphoSys to the next stage of our
corporate development,” Chief Executive Officer Simon Moroney
said in the statement.

This is MorphoSys’s second transaction this month. The
company said June 3 it agreed to sell rights to its experimental
MOR103 treatment to GlaxoSmithKline Plc for as much as 445
million euros as well as royalties.

MorphoSys spokeswoman Claudia Gutjahr-Loeser said the
company will adjust its financial guidance after it receives
U.S. antitrust clearance for the deal. The company raised its
forecast for earnings before interest and tax after the
GlaxoSmithKline agreement to a range from a loss of 2 million
euros to earnings of 2 million euros.

Previously the forecast was for a loss at that level of 18
million euros to 22 million euros.